The Communication of Meaningful Emotional Information for Children Interacting with Virtual Actors

In a virtual environment where users can interact with agents, the way in which the agent displays its internal emotional state and what the user infers from this display is central to effective affective communication. Given the reliance on visual expression of emotion in current VR Systems, any differences between children and adults in the way such information is utilised and perceived raises interesting design issues in relation to the experience and age of the user. Here we discuss some of these issues in relation to the PUPPET project, where the goal is to provide a virtual play environment, using a theatre metaphor, to enable young children's (4-8 years old) story construction. This paper first presents a summary of previous research that demonstrates the special meaning that young children place on facial expressions when gathering information about emotion. Three empirical studies are presented that explore these issues using prototypes of our system. Some design solutions are suggested in conjunction with directions for future empirical work.

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